Partnership, Including UT, Invited to Submit Proposal to Create Economic, Societal and Technological Opportunities for Region
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A team of scientists with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is participating as part of a larger team of industry and academic experts working to improve the lives of people across the Southeastern U.S. by developing a circular bioeconomy that can support rural communities and regional industry in an environmentally sustainable way.
The partnership, nicknamed “Greening the Southeast,” includes HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, UT Knoxville, Auburn University and several other regional collaborators. It has been invited to compete in the next stage of the second-ever U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) “Regional Innovation Engines” (NSF Engines) program. Seventy-one teams, out of an initial pool of nearly 300 teams, from various regions across the country have been invited to submit full proposals for awards potentially totaling $160 million.
The Greening the Southeast team was one of 44 recipients of $1 million each in the first-ever “NSF Regional Innovation Engines Development Awards” program announced in May 2023. These awards were planning awards designed to help establish collaborations to create economic, societal and technological opportunities for their regions.
The research partnership aims to develop a green, circular bioeconomy in the Southeast. The proposed shift in the regional economy could benefit industry, farmers and consumers in the Southeast by eliminating industry reliance on petroleum and environmentally costly fibers and chemicals. The project focuses on converting perennial agricultural grass crops to sustainable consumer goods in the packaging, automotive and construction materials industries. The goal is to create manufactured products and chemicals using sustainable locally grown grasses grown on underutilized marginal land, thus creating new markets for farmers while creating new jobs in the region. Beneficial impacts also include reducing the impact of climate change by improving atmospheric carbon sequestration and decarbonizing Southeastern industries.
Nicole Labbé, professor and director of the UT Center for Renewable Carbon in the UT Institute of Agriculture and one of the co-principal investigators for the project, says the pivotal manufacturing sectors being targeted by the team include the Southeast’s powerful automotive, construction materials and packaging industries. “This NSF Engine will address key technical hurdles in matching appropriate agricultural material components to downstream manufacturing and products to realize true biobased manufacturing. These efforts will require deconstruction of the biomass feedstocks and appropriate use of the constituents in the selected industrial applications,” she says.
Inherent in this technology advancement is a need for a qualified workforce. Labbé adds, “The workforce development and training components of the Engine will address and overcome the challenges related to expanding the skills and knowledge base of rural workers along with expanding the opportunities for high-skill, high-pay jobs in rural areas.”
Teams invited to submit full proposals were announced October 24 by Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for technology, innovation, and partnerships.
“The breadth and depth of preliminary proposals submitted to the NSF Engines funding opportunity demonstrates both the very real need for and the potential of harnessing the full geography of innovation across our nation,” Gianchandani said. “The teams invited to submit a full proposal have shown through their preliminary proposal submissions how they will knit together innovative ideas, talent and resources in their respective regions to accelerate the development of key technologies. Collectively, they are well positioned to directly contribute to strengthening our nation’s competitiveness and security for the mid-21st century.
The ‘Greening the Southeast’ team includes numerous research institutions, industry leaders, educators and economists, each bringing their unique expertise to develop and sustain a circular bioeconomy in the region. The team is comprised of 31 industry partners, 17 academic and research partners, and 21 community stakeholders. A full list of team members can be found at greeningthesoutheast.org. The team is also open to additional partnerships.
“Our team brings together researchers across plant genetics and genomics, crop breeders and experts in biomass processing and biomaterial development to build a pipeline to create products from locally engineered and grown perennial grasses,” says Jeremy Schmutz, HudsonAlpha faculty investigator and also co-principal investigator for the project. “Our innovative strategy will leverage low-carbon agricultural crops to foster circular bioeconomy ecosystems with far-reaching industrial applications. We will create synergistic partnerships linking biomass producers directly with eco-conscious manufacturers and consumers to forge a resilient circular bioeconomy and spur rural economic growth within the Southeast and beyond.”
The Engine program has five key focal points. These include crop development and optimization, use-inspired industry problem solving research, sustainability, workforce development and education, and technology commercialization.
“Our broad consortium of partners across research, industry, agriculture, and communities really brings all of the pieces together to make this effort successful,” adds professor M. Soledad Peresin, director of the Sustainable Bio-based Materials Laboratory at Auburn University. “This Engine has the potential to be a game changer for our region as it spurs innovation and rural economic development. We’re tremendously excited about its potential.”
Labbé and Schmutz couldn’t agree more.
View more information about the program, visit the project website, Greening the Southeast.
For information about participating in the ‘Greening the Southeast’ Partnership, contact info@greeningthesoutheast.org.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu